Bluffton Fire District plan gains support as it heads back to County Council

The lone Beaufort County Council detractor of a tax-payer financed plan to avert home insurance spikes at two wealthy Bluffton developments says he’s now on board.

With the likelihood that the tax increase needed to boost Bluffton Township Fire District staffing will come in smaller thanks to new revenues pouring in December, asking for more from the entire district to spare Palmetto Bluff and Colleton River Plantation isn’t asking too much, said Councilman Steven Baer of Hilton Head Island after a Finance Committee meeting. Baer was the only Council member to vote against the measure on its first of three readings Jan. 14, when he argued other options hadn’t been fully evaluated.

“Data from Finance showed under current assessed values it’d be just slightly over one mill (increase), and that’s a very small amount, and I see — as those communities grow — they’ll actually pump money into the Fire District, so I don’t think that’s a large burden on the rest of Bluffton,” he said.

Colleton River, now at 315 houses, will reach 700 residences at capacity while Palmetto Bluff is only at 8 percent of its 4,000-home limit, according to Chief Barry Turner, who previously estimated the rate hike could cost those taxpayers hundreds of thousands collectively. It was spurred by a risk downgrade last year from Insurance Services Office, an influential rating agency that decided two unmanned fire stations within the developments no longer count toward fire protection.

The Fire District’s plan to avert hikes that reportedly exceed $10,000 in some instances includes a $555,000 addition to this year’s budget in overtime for two-person shifts at temporary stations and $1.3 million for 24 new firefighters to be ready for full-time duty starting July 1 with the new fiscal year. The rate increases would hit May 1 without a proposal in place, according to Roberts Vaux, the Bluffton lawyer representing the Fire District.

But paying for those new hires would only take 1.04 mills instead of the 2.84 previously estimated under current property values thanks to the expiration of a debt-financing arrangement in December, said David Starkey, chief financial officer for the county. That amounts to about $1 per $100,000 of assessed value for primary homeowners.

The proposal has met with some opposition from Council and within the Fire Commission as critics questioned the fairness of taxing all Bluffton-area residents to avoid premium hikes for two well-heeled communities, but homeowners and others noted the area has paid its share of Fire District taxes without seeing as much benefit.

Turner argued the bare-bones facilities set up temporarily in both developments could also serve other areas of the districts, and Palmetto Bluff is contractually obligated to foot the costs of a permanent station that will serve its entire 4,000-home build-out. He also said using volunteers for the rest of the fiscal year isn’t feasible because they require 240 hours of training with another 20 hours per month thereafter to meet national standards, and ISO requires three times the manpower with volunteers to maintain the same level of service.

“It’s not efficient with the timing or the costs,” he said.

Councilman Stu Rodman, who chairs the Finance Committee, argued the proposal actually promotes fairness considering about 28 percent of active firefighters will work in areas that pay about 28 percent of the Fire District’s $9.3 million budget. Fire taxes in Colleton’s zone topped $1.9 million this fiscal year while Palmetto Bluff’s zone contributed about $675,000, according to Turner.

The proposal goes before County Council for a second reading on Monday. It will require another reading and a public hearing before taking effect.